All-New Inhumans 1 2
Plot On the R.I.V., Crystal is talking to a hologram of Agent Daisy Johnson, their Inhuman S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison, over the Inhumans' diplomatic visit to the People's Republic of Sin-Gong, whose government claims that no one in their borders had been affected by the Terrigen Cloud; Sin-Cong is also known to supply weapons and technology to Hydra. Crystal isn't going to take their word for it, as Inhuman gene had spread across the globe, even in Sin-Cong refugees living in New York. Either Sin-Gong is lying or something in that country is negating the effects of Terrigenesis. Daisy says that half the powers-that-be at S.H.I.E.L.D. want to forcibly keep the Inhumans from Sin-Cong and the other half wants to find out what the dictatorship is hiding. She was the swing vote. As they exit an elevator and meet Gorgon, Daisy warns him that once they set foot in Sin-Cong, nobody's coming to their rescue if anything goes wrong. Crystal, along with Swain, Gorgon, Flint and three other Nuhumans, disembark the R.I.V. and meet with the Commissar of Sin-Cong, who has arranged a whole military welcome. The Commissar greets them and welcomes them as guests, granting them permission to freely explore civilian areas and interview anyone they wish regarding the Terrigen Cloud. He assures them that his people's humanity remains pure, unaffected by the Kree experiments that created the Inhumans. Crystal, Gorgon, Swain and Flint explore a neighborhood. The group then separate, except for Gorgon, who remains with two soldiers, and interview three families, who deny anyone undergoing Terrigenesis. However, a suspicious Crystal had secretly sent Naja, Grid, and Ash (going by the codename Panacea), the latter two not being officially on the R.I.V. crew manifest, to scout the other side of the country and what Naja finds in a small village shocks her. Crystal and her entourage later sit at a banquet hosted by the Commissar. The Commissar gives a toast and goes to elaborate how his father, the previous dictator, created a giant android to fool the world into thinking that Sin-Cong was mighty. He even invited the Avengers to test his creation, claiming that Earth's Mightiest fell and fled due to underhanded and dishonourable tactics. As he speaks, the floor below the banquet hall retracts, revealing three mutated men, he dubs Un-Humans, whom he claims were volunteers his father experimented on, spending half the country's treasury to create. Flint privately asks Gorgon if those people are Nuhumans but the latter denies it. Crystal offers medical care to the Un-Humans, but the Commissars rejects her offer, claiming he knows how best to care for his people. But his "care", involves his robots and soldiers torturing the Un-Humans. A Hulk-like Un-Humans attempts to climb out of the pit, saying he accepts Crystal's offer, but is hit in the back by a flamethrower and falls down. This enrages Flint, who attacks the soldiers with his powers. The Commissar takes offense at the Inhumans' violating his hospitality. Crystal quickly takes responsibility for Flint's actions, claiming that her powers were unstable due to her emotional state, and tells her crew that they're leaving. Back aboard the R.I.V., Flint asks Crystal why they did not overthrow the Commissar or at the very least help those Nu-Humans. Crystals retorts that even if they did beat the Commissar and his army, and overthrow his government, they would have to stay and rebuild Sin-Cong. Inhumans are what she's responsible for and as far as she can see, there are none in Sin-Cong. If there were, she'd at least be doing something. She tells Flint that though his heart's in the right place, but he should not assume he knows everything she does about their missions. She tells him to rest up and says they're leaving as soon as Naja get back. Meanwhile, Naja's team has discovered a group of people dying of radiation poisoning. Grid realizes that the weapons the Commissar had built for Hydra had leak constant radiation into the water supply. Naja asks Panacea if she could heal these people. She says she could but undoubtedly the Commissar knew about this and healing these people would only suggest that the Inhumans were here, and states that they should focus on finding Nuhumans. Back on the R.I.V., Crystal is recording a message for Medusa and erases the second half of herself venting her frustrations. As she lies down to take a nap, she has a nightmare where people were cocooning before Sin-Cong soldier gather the Nuhumans and execute any unfortunate human witness, who cry out to Crystal to avenge them. This shocks Crystal out of her sleep, before Swain comes in, announcing that she also had the same dream. Appearing Characters Featured Character *